Even though the traditional Mexican Day of the Dead holiday is celebrated in November, there’s no reason not to get ready for it in June! I’ll be working with participants to make Day of the Dead mementos using some of the embellishment materials I often use in my work. The workshop is scheduled for next Saturday, June 20th.

We’ll look at pictures I took in Oaxaca when I was there for the festivities and talk a little about the holiday itself. Then it’ll be on to the art! My friend, Betsy Cannon, and I taught this class last year at a spa in Mexico, and their blogger wrote: “It reminded me of being a kid, yet there we were, a room full of adults of all ages having a blast doing arts and crafts.”

There’s still room left, so plan to come and join the fun; no talent or experience required!

University of Wyoming Art Museum, Saturday, June 20th, from 3 to 5 pm. To register, call Rachel Clifton at 307-766-6621 or email her at rmiller@uwyo.edu. (Or, talk to her in person if you’re coming to the Biennial Exhibition reception Thursday night. Art Museum, 6-8 pm.)

And there’s some room left in the two other workshops that will be offered in this series (contact Rachel about them if you want to know more):

Creating Art with Water-Based Inks, with June Glasson on June 13th, and

The concluding celebration of my fellowship award is the Wyoming Biennial Exhibition, showcasing the work of two years of Arts Fellowship Recipients. I made a new series for this exhibit entitled, “Shadows of Conscience,” and I have a number of other pieces there also. If you can attend the reception, it is this Thursday, June 11th, 6 to 8 pm, at the University of Wyoming Art Museum in Laramie.

The exhibition will continue through August 1, so if you’re not at the reception, you can still see the exhibit for several more weeks.

This promises to be an exciting and thought provoking show, displaying the work of an extremely diverse group of artists. I’m enormously honored to be counted among the artists who will be exhibiting with me: Diana Baumbach, June Glasson, Thomas Macker, Suzanne Morlock and Aaron Wallis.

No, not me, just this little soldier. Last year, several people called my attention to “The Crow Show,” to be held at The Studio Door gallery in San Diego this month. The juror selected “El Soldado” out of my series of crows with hats.

Fiber Visions, a group including a number of distinguished, nationally recognized fiber artists will be presenting an exhibit at the Bas Bleu Theater in Fort Collins, Colorado, this November and December. I’m fortunate to be a member of this group, and I hope, if you live nearby, you will have an opportunity to stop in to see the show. (For more information about these artists, you can read our group blog, www.fibervisionsartists.blogspot.com.)

There will be two first Friday receptions, on November 7th and December 5th, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. I’ll be in Mexico during the first of these, but I plan to be at the December reception. If you can come then, I hope to see you there.

I’ve just returned from Lander, where a show of my work, along with beautiful and provocative art by Melissa Strickler and Spencer Bohren, opened Friday night. Openings at the Lander Art Gallery are a big social event in this small central Wyoming town, and this one was topped off with a rousing performance by Spencer, who is an outstanding musician as well as an artist. You can see Melissa’s iconography and collage work at sacredwindwyoming.com, and learn about Spencer’s music and reliquaries at spencerbohren.com. The show, “Storytellers,” was curated by Lisa Hueneke and will remain at the gallery until November 1.

And now ….

Back in my studio, I’m turning my thoughts to the presentations and workshop Betsy Cannon (betsycannon.com) and I are planning for our visit to Rancho La Puerta, a lovely spa in Mexico not too far from San Diego, at the beginning of November. We’ll mount a show of our Day of the Dead quilts, talk about how our experiences in Mexico have influenced our work, and give a little tour of our own exuberant celebrations of Día de los Muertos in Oaxaca. We’re also planning a workshop for participants to make their own small Day of the Dead mementos. Here’s my latest piece for the Rancho exhibit. (Still looking for a title … suggestions?)

This spring, I was very fortunate to be awarded one of three visual arts fellowships by the Wyoming Arts Council. This gives me a generous stipend and a year to spend it, plus the opportunity to exhibit in the biennial fellowship show to be mounted in Laramie in 2016. Here’s a picture of the fellowship recipients with two of the jurors.

With the fellowship has come a windfall of opportunities to exhibit my work! This summer, I’ll have pieces in shows in Lander (Wyoming), Fort Collins (Colorado) and Jackson (Wyoming), with more to follow in the fall and winter. Here are some details of pieces in these shows to spark your interest:

in Lander: WxNW: West by New West Cheyenne Artists July 3 – August 30 Reception: June 27, 6-8 Lander Art Gallery

I hope you’ll be able to go to one of these shows. Because I’ll be traveling to London and Berlin during the first half of July, I won’t be able to attend the receptions in jackson and Fort Collins; if you do go, I’d love to hear your reactions.

For the first day in the (almost) month we’ve been here, we woke up to a clear blue sky! Plus, no wind. Great day for a hike!

Brush Creek

It’s hard to believe a month has nearly gone by. I still feel privileged beyond measure to have had this opportunity, and I’ve loved the freedom of a spacious studio and a bedroom of my own, plus meals at the ready. Even though I’ve never met them, I thank the owners of Brush Creek Ranch, Beth and Bruce White, who have been more than generous to us. (And thank you, too, to Sara Schleicher, who has managed all seven artists with her particular grace and humor.) Finally, here are a couple of the silk screens I’ve made from photos I took while here ….

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, I looked out the window and noticed the wind wasn’t blowing!!! Yippee! Grabbed my boots to take a little hike, and realized the sun was about to set, so I raced up the hill just to watch it go down.

sunset at Brush Creek Ranch

Hard to believe this is my last week at the Artists’ Camp. One lovely advantage has been the chance to try some new things, and to discard what didn’t work without thinking that I just spent the only block of time I had doing something that didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. Plus, I’ve made a number of pieces that I’m pleased with.

There’s a quote at the Denver airport, inscribed on the arches over the walkway between the main terminal and concourse A (Burma-Shave style, for those of us who remember those), that I’ve loved every time I’ve read it. I found a chance to do something with it here, and like the reminder that I’m neither completely at sea, nor required to prove myself.

The quote, by Albert Einstein: “Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.”

This piece has the quote at the top, and a variety of images of Einstein across the bottom. The words of the quote, and old sheet music give texture to the background.

Couldn’t resist another post today. A few of us took a couple hours off to go to the annual Saratoga Chariot Races. It was a warm day (mid-40’s), and the fairground was muddy, but we could stand in sawdust at the edge of the race course (a quarter-mile straightaway). Might have reminded one of Ben Hur, except for the surrounding mountains, the American Legion beer tent, and the pickups parked along both sides of the course. Oh, and the auctioneers selling calcutta bets before each race! The horses are fast, fast, fast … and the races are over almost before you can take a breath. Here are some pictures to give you a flavor of what we saw.